The Week That Was – 47

Well this was a bit of a wet week… and rain is still such a novelty and we are enjoying the torrenting rain…

Not to mention thunder and lightening, which is almost unheard of in our part of the world!! And a couple of folk had to get up really really early on account of the wild weather. And dare I say the rest of the hoods were too scared to get out of bed and remained under the covers…

Later in the day I made a dash for the gym, and this is what I returned to… parenting the father person way…

Well one of them was reading a book, momentarily:

Which leads to the other thing you do when it torrents with rain, you read some books:

While doing: I am not exactly sure what! But don’t tell me that men can’t multi-task…

And the other thing you can do while the rain is emptying out the sky… you can bring new meaning to “Tackle it Tuesday.” All the while laughing and screaming hysterically at the pure boisterousness of it all!!!

Meanwhile, we have a new passion and it is white hot chocolate: warm your milk and a slab of white chocolate in a pot… whisk away so it gets nice and frothy, share it out – if you must, and drink it up… hmmmmm! I think you guys got our Monday Munchie early. Do I have to think of another one?

It would seem when it rains you eat – so we made some Chocolate Fridge Cake – just to blog it, of course!

We also made some bird houses filled with potpourri and eventually little birds as well…

We survived a week back at school – actually it went really smoothly! And we finished by lunchtime with ease every day – Are these my children? The same ones that spent the first nine weeks of the year trying to take all day to do their school!

And I quietly continued with my low-key purge… inspired by the Organizing Junkie’s “Throw out Fifty things NOW.” This is a great way to clean out lingering stuff… Our house is pretty clutter free if I stay on top of it but I have a bad habit of jamming things away in the name of visitors! Well this is really an easy way to get back on track I just do a tiny purge everyday, while little people are cleaning their teeth before school… that’s it – when they are done I must be done too. It is only surface stuff… anything deeper is actually under control:

A bag of accumulated junk – just off the surfaces, and I don’t really know why it doesn’t get tossed as we go.
A couple of board books – these had been consumed one too many times, also I am very strict that a container is only so big if new things arrive then old things must go!
One black bike that has survived eight years of intense toddler attack… and its life as functional is over.
A couple more kids books we have some looming birthdays and we need to make some space for some newcomers.
Two more bags of kids clothes – out they go… if I can’t stand the sight of my kids in them (tattered and shattered) then they need to go…
Some pots that have been lurking at the bottom of the back of the cupboard for so long as to have grown roots. I am a creature of habit, I use what I use and what I don’t should go.
Another bag of junky toy/stuff that lurks our house but doesn’t fit into our organizing toys profile – out, not to mention all those duplicate pieces of stuff because for some reason folk (excuse me for being so blunt) see something they would like to get for one hood – so they buy se7en of the same – aaaahhhh – one kids treasure is not necessarily another’s!!!
A bag of stuff out of the little guys treasure baskets, we worked together and discovered that treasures don’t necessarily remain treasures…
More artworks jammed into bookshelves – out – the special ones get stored in boxes (that’s a whole post) but most are just doodles and scribbles and a couple of projects that we are totally finished with.
Finally papers… very important papers – not! I jam all papers in the same spot when I can’t stand them anymore – well a major sift and my goodness 95% of it all went into the recycling!

After two weeks of minimalist de-cluttering I have almost a carload for the donation station – Yay!

Let’s get onto the Hoods…

Hood #1: Did some trumpeting and wrote three books, one of them a bug one – I will scan and post it soon.

Hood #2: Played in his first musical event.

Before we left home:

I said to him: “Gosh, you are looking smart!”

He replied: “I know I am used to that…”

“Used to what? I asked.

“Looking good!” He replied.

Now I ask you: How is a mother person supposed to keep a straight face?

Hood #3: Lost a tooth that I have been dying for her to lose – it was smashed in a sibling incident years ago and I am so not sorry to see the last of it!

She also did some gladiatoring with her personal horse!

Hood #4: He supplied some brotherly love and protected his sisters from the terrifying antics of Bear Grills…

And it was his turn to help with supper – there was painting involved and he is a great artist after all… I was impressed… It’s a Minced Beef Wellington, from The Ministry of Food by Jameie Oliver, of course! In fact this book should be our book of the month for the rest of the life of this blog.

Hood #5: Tells me his birthday is a long time coming… He’s right – October is his first chance at a birthday! After drawing his professional chef face on with black marker, he made some extremely popular caramel popcorn – he has clearly mastered the art not only of cooking but catering to the masses!